The Evansville women’s basketball team could have used an umbrella Saturday, as SIU rained 3-pointers on the Purple Aces.

The Salukis (11-6, 4-1 Missouri Valley Conference) made a season-high 13 3-pointers in a 74-56 win against Evansville (2-14, 1-4).

Senior guard Cartaesha Macklin opened the scoring with a layup 30 seconds into the game, giving her sole possession of first place in school history in points scored. Macklin finished the game with four points, three rebounds and dished out five assists.

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The Salukis jumped to a 9-2 lead in the game’s first three and a half minutes. A 7-0 Purple Aces run over the next three and a half minutes tied the game.

SIU scored six unanswered points after a timeout with three minutes left in half, but a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Evansville junior guard Sara Dickey cut the Saluki lead to 15-14.

Sophomore guard Kylie Giebelhausen started the second quarter with a personal 8-0 run, including 2-3 shooting from beyond the arc in the first two minutes of the quarter.

Evansville played mostly zone defense, allowing SIU open looks from outside. The Salukis made six of 12 3-pointers in the second quarter, including Giebelhausen’s buzzer-beater to extend the SIU lead to 40-20 at halftime.

“I thought they would throw more junk at us,” coach Cindy Stein said. “They changed some things up within that zone, but obviously they were very determined not to let us get our inside game going. They were going to force us to hit outside shots.”

Giebelhausen and junior point guard Rishonda Napier, who each made four 3-pointers in the first half, led all scorers with 14 first-half points.

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“We had really good ball movement, which really opened me up,” Giebelhausen said. “I wasn’t really focused on scoring. I just had really good rhythm.”

Dickey led Evansville with eight points in the first half.

The Aces outscored SIU 36-34 in the second half, but that made only a dent in the Saluki lead.

Napier led all scorers with 17 points. Senior center Dyana Pierre recorded a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Giebelhausen finished the game with 14 points and a game-high three blocked shots.

Dickey led the Purple Aces with 13 points and nine rebounds.

The Salukis’ next game is at 7 p.m. Friday at Wichita State.

Thomas Donley can be reached at [email protected] or at 536-3307